Report Card for May 28

May 28, 2010

The Report Card issues grades A through F, and incompletes where necessary, to a variety of news items in this space. Got an idea that makes the grade? Send it to Dneal@CITIZEN-TIMES.com.

Reader grade

A to Rotary International District 7670 and Honor Air.

On July 6, 1945, I experienced what I thought at the time would have been the ultimate thrill of a lifetime. I was coming home on a troop ship, heading into Boston Harbor and met by boats shooting water cannons, bands playing our kind of music – a real welcoming ceremony.

On May 15, I was honored to have been accepted by the Rotarians to make the Honor Air Flight to visit the WWII Memorial in Washington, D.C. Upon landing at Reagan International, the plane was showered on both sides by fire truck water cannons. After deboarding, we loaded onto tour buses and were escorted by police motorcycles to the Memorial.

Back in Asheville, our plane was showered again by water cannon. Inside the terminal were several hundred people to welcome us home, waving flags and cheering as if we were real heroes.

The trip was already on my “Bucket List,” but I could never have done for myself what these Rotarians did for me. Thanks so much to Ellis Morris, Lee Starnes, Gerald New and other volunteers, and a special thanks to Jeff Miller, the Honor Air founder.

Toby Craft, Canton

Staff grades

A to The Lord’s Acre , which in its first year produced three tons of organic vegetables for Food for Fairview, the Manna Food Bank, the Society of St. Andrew and the veterans home. And this on just one-fourth acre of land in Fairview. “We attribute our success to many volunteers, to generous donations and this annual fund raising event and above all to our dedicated garden managers Susan and Franklin Sides,” said Will Hamilton. The fund-raiser is a square-dance plus, tomorrow at 5 at Sherrill’s Inn, halfway up the road to Hickory Nut Gap on U.S. 74A. There will be a silent auction, a covered-dish supper, tours of the inn, pony cart rides and musical chairs. Suggested donation is $10, or $20 per family. To learn more, visit www.thelordsacre.com or call Susan Sides at 628-3688 or Hamilton at 231-7496.

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D is for dirty, as in water . D also is for David, as in Young. “It’s safe. It’s not pretty,” the state Democratic Party chairman said of the water in Eden Glen Mobile Home Park. The water is within state health standards but is the color of rust due to its iron content. Young, a principal in the firm that owns the park, says a new filtration system has been in the works for about a year, but does not know when it will be ready. “We can't do anything without the state approving it,” Young said. “We are working as fast as we can.” The owners began changing for water earlier this year and some residents refused to pay, resulting in shutoffs last week. Asked about the shutoffs, Young passed the buck to the park‘s managers. Last year, a state engineer recommended that the park be connected with a municipal water system which is within a mile. Good idea.

A to OnTrack Financial Education and Counseling , one of five organizations to share $2 million in federal money under a pilot program to establish and expand financial education and counseling services for prospective homebuyers. OnTrack's program, Home Run: Coaching for Home Ownership, will invite low-income, low-wealth residents of five Mountain Housing Opportunities apartment complexes to attend classes and counseling sessions offered on-site. “In the wake of the foreclosure crisis, this program has long-term potential to help low-income people begin to build assets through stable, affordable, homeownership," said Celeste Collins, OnTrack executive director. OnTrack has provided one-on-one housing and financial counseling for potential homebuyers since 1979.

F for the take-no-prisoner politics in which foes are called evildoers who must be stopped if the country is to be saved. Most people know that this talk, like the irate fan’s yell of “Kill the umpire,“ is not to be taken seriously. But then there are those such as the man with a history of mental illness and a cache of guns who said he would kill U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler if Shuler voted on the stimulus bill. Shuler is one of at least seven members of Congress who were threatened last year, according to an FBI report. “You get a threat like that, and you start to rethink your priorities,” said Shuler, who has taken precautions to protect himself and his family. When confronted by FBI agents, the man who threatened Shuler said, “I was trying to work the political scene.” Those with strong beliefs need to tone down the rhetoric lest their claims of Armageddon become self-fulfilling prophecies.

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A to Moog Music , for its plans to transform four old buildings on Broadway in Asheville into a manufacturing plant and showroom that should both provide good jobs and draw tourists. The company‘s 35 employees will design and construct, among other things, the synthesizers for which company founder Bob Moog became famous. “This is the kind of space that will spawn creativity,” said Moog Music president Mike Adams, pointing to the buildings' wooden floors, old brick and big windows. The new location near downtown “will integrate Moog Music much more into the cultural life of Asheville,” said Ileana Grams Moog, Bob Moog's widow. Mayor Terry Bellamy noted that it also will help expand downtown. The mayor was right on target when she praised Moog Music as “the type of corporate citizen we want in our community -- one that gives back.”

A to the Buncombe County staffers who have netted more than $1 million for the public treasury by selling items on the online auction site GovDeals. The county disposed of 4,196 items for a total of $1,012,407. The biggest single sale was a landfill compactor bought by a bidder in Statesville for $21,000. “Selling our surplus online allows us to attract buyers from all over the U.S.,” said Cindy Williams, county accounting technician. “I believe the competitive Internet bidding process gets us more for the surplus property than the limited market base we had with the traditional on site auctions.” Next on the block are computers, office equipment and furniture. In these tough times, governments need to be innovative if they are to provide services without raising taxes. Online auction aren’t the answer to Buncombe’s budget challenges, but they are a positive step.

A stands for ales and other craft brews that won Asheville the title of national Beer City USA , beating out Portland, Ore., in the electronic voting. Prodded on by Facebook posts, tweets, emails and other social networking, Asheville beer fans voted en mass, 7,289 votes, bypassing Northwest rival Portland with 6,565. Last year, the two beer cities, Asheville and Portland, tied for the title in the unscientific Beer City poll. With Asheville’s growing number of microbreweries, beer is big business in our town, drawing visitors and whetting the whistles of locals.